How Max Verstappen helped Gabriel Bortoleto on his street to F1

That Gabriel Bortoleto and Max Verstappen get alongside nicely has been evident on a number of events this 12 months.

Simply earlier than the beginning of the Australian Grand Prix, the four-time Components 1 world champion suggested the Sauber rookie to start out the race on intermediate tyres – a name that proved to be the proper one. In Austrian GP qualifying, he even supplied Bortoleto with a useful slipstream. What’s much less identified, nevertheless, is that Verstappen had already been supporting Bortoleto earlier than the Brazilian made it to F1.

“Max is an incredible man,” Bortoleto tells Motorsport.com when requested about their relationship. “For me, along with Ayrton Senna, he is the perfect driver ever. I really see Max as among the best on the market. I actually admire the best way he approaches racing, the understanding of racing that he has, his understanding of the automotive, and the persistence he reveals in every little thing he does. And I see him for instance of a driver I wish to turn out to be – by way of his experience in racing and every little thing.”

The 2 first began bonding in 2023, when Bortoleto was nonetheless racing in Components 3. “I began to speak extra usually with Max once I was firstly of my season in F3. We began enjoying a whole lot of video video games collectively – and sim racing,” he says. “We created a really good relationship the place he helps me loads. He helped me on my solution to Components 1 with a whole lot of suggestions and recommendation, and a whole lot of speaking to folks within the F1 paddock as nicely, about me.”

Jonathan Wheatley, who took over as Sauber workforce principal earlier this 12 months after an extended stint as sporting director at Purple Bull Racing, was a kind of folks. “Jonathan at all times tells me Max rated me very extremely to him earlier than I got here to Sauber/Audi,” Bortoleto reveals. “I do know Max does not converse usually about this, and he does not discuss it within the media, that he helped me by speaking to folks in Components 1 about me. However he was prepared to assist me, as a result of he noticed I used to be doing good outcomes.”

Their very first encounter dates again to 2017. A photograph Bortoleto posted on Instagram stands as proof. “That was the primary time I met Max, sure,” Bortoleto recollects.

“I used to be shaking. As a result of he had been a part of the karting workforce I raced for, CRG, and the fellows there spoke very extremely of him,” he continues. “Max had simply completed his second season in F1, and I would heard a lot about this younger man doing so nicely in Components 1.

“So I actually needed to satisfy him. And one time he got here to a race and I requested for a photograph. He was completely cool and tremendous good. After which we took that image. It went viral [earlier this year], as a result of it is good to see that second once more now.”

Shared ardour

Six years after that first photograph, the 2 reconnected via sim racing – an exercise each take very significantly.

“It is humorous, the historical past behind it, as a result of I was actually unhealthy at sim racing,” Bortoleto admits. “Once I began, I hated it, as a result of I wasn’t any good. And while you’re not good at one thing, usually you are not very enthusiastic about it. Since you’re mainly getting your ass kicked.”

He vividly remembers his first sim racing expertise. “It was in Milan. I did not have a sim at house or something. It was a Ferrari sim on the Ferrari retailer. I went there and gave it a go, and I used to be so off the tempo in comparison with the highest guys. And I bear in mind my father taking a look at me and he was like: ‘Cease complaining and saying that the sim is not good. As an alternative of whining, be good at this. And you’ve got a purpose to turn out to be good: that is your sport. Try to be the perfect on this.’ And since my father is my hero, I listened to him. I ended complaining and saying ‘it isn’t good’, ‘this does not change something in my life’ and ‘doing simulator isn’t life like’. And I began training.”

It proved to be a turning level for Bortoleto. “I purchased my first small simulator, so I might apply at house. And I bought simply hooked on it. Sim racing is so addictive. When you begin driving, you can not cease.

“So I began upgrading my sim and I grew to become among the best, I might say, at sim racing – for an actual driver. Clearly, there are sim drivers who’re higher than me, as a result of they’re doing it each single second of the day, and I haven’t got that a lot time. However I simply love doing it, and I spend a whole lot of my day sim racing.”

Though Bortoleto felt in another way after his first expertise, he now says sim racing has turn out to be ‘extraordinarily essential’ for his improvement. “If you go to new tracks – and even ones you already know – it helps. Once I arrive at a observe, I really feel like I’ve already performed a thousand laps, simply due to all of the apply I did at house.”

“You additionally be taught loads about automotive set-up. Within the sim, you’ll be able to change the set-up and check out various things. Clearly, you’ll be able to’t arrange your precise F1 automotive within the sim, however you’ll be able to be taught loads about what issues you’ll be able to change within the set-up, as they need to change the identical factor as in actual life. So you’ll be able to check issues, like how the automotive will behave at sure tracks.”

A member of Verstappen’s workforce

Bortoleto has additionally been an envoy for Crew Redline, Verstappen’s skilled sim racing workforce. “I joined in 2023, once I was nonetheless in F3. I used to be at all times speaking and enjoying with the fellows, however I formally joined them that 12 months.”

Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber

Picture by: Andy Hone / LAT Photos by way of Getty Photos

What does his function contain? “I simply apply with them. I do a whole lot of sim racing – primarily with Max – and generally with the opposite sim drivers. However we do not do any official races collectively. Possibly on the finish of the 12 months there will likely be a few endurance races that I will likely be a part of. However let’s have a look at the way it goes.”

In contrast to Verstappen, he’s not concerned in serving to the workforce with automotive set-ups. “No, that is not the job I do there. And I don’t have the time for that. Additionally, they primarily play iRacing and endurance races – completely different sorts of video games from what I normally play. I drive the F1 automotive loads, in Assetto Corsa, and sometimes do some iRacing in GT3 automobiles. Once I play with the Crew Redline guys, I attempt to set good lap instances and we attempt to beat one another. However most of my time is spent in Assetto Corsa, driving the F1 automotive.”

A top-10 driver in Assetto Corsa

Requested the place he ranks among the many world’s finest sim racers, Bortoleto smiles: “It is dependent upon the sport. In Assetto Corsa with the F1 automotive – which I deal with loads – I would say I am high 10, perhaps high 5. In different video games, I am perhaps high 50 or high 100. It simply is dependent upon what I deal with. If I actually deal with one recreation, I consider I may be in that vary of the highest 10. But it surely takes a whole lot of hours and dedication.”

“I play a whole lot of Assetto Corsa these days, as a result of I really feel prefer it’s essentially the most life like by way of tyre behaviour and the way the automotive behaves,” Bortoleto explains. “iRacing is wonderful for racing. And you’ve got qualifying and apply classes, so it looks like a race weekend a bit. However Assetto Corsa is extra about doing laps by your self or with your mates. So not about racing, however extra about training and honing your abilities.”

“However I would like to come back again to iRacing a bit. I stepped away to focus extra on F1 in Assetto, however I would like to return and focus a bit extra on that to work on my rating there.”